Claire Dickson is a creative vocalist and composer from Medford, Massachusetts currently based in Brooklyn.
Claire creates as an improviser, songwriter, composer, and producer drawing from avant-pop, electronic music, and jazz. Her music values texture, fantasy, and feeling. She co-leads the songwriting project Myrtle and is currently working on a self-produced album of her solo work.
Growing up in a musical family, Claire was encouraged to pursue her love of singing and music. Throughout high school Claire participated in prestigious jazz programs such as the Berklee 5-week Jazz Workshop directed by Terri Lyne Carrington, Grammy Jazz Session, and YoungArts. She performed at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops as a Fidelity Young Artists Competition Grand Prize Winner, the Kennedy Center as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and the Monterey Jazz Festival with the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.
Claire graduated from Harvard College in 2019 with a degree in Psychology and Music. There, she studied with Vijay Iyer, Claire Chase, Yosvany Terry, and Esperanza Spalding. From singing alto in the University Choir at Memorial Church, to singing pop covers in the basement at WHRB, to sharing the Sander's Theatre stage with Rufus Reid and the Harvard Jazz Bands for Reid's Elizabeth Catlett Project, Claire gained a range of musical experiences. In addition to work on campus, Claire also studied for a semester at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and attended the Banff Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music, the Siena Jazz Workshop, and through an Artist Development Fellowship did an apprenticeship with renowned vocalist and composer Theo Bleckmann. As a junior in college in 2018, Claire released an EP, Better Strangers, consisting of all original songs. Upon graduating, she was a recipient of the Robert Levin Prize in Musical Performance, the David McCord Prize in the Arts and a Booth Fellowship which supported her attendance of the Arctic Circle Artist Residency.